The anniversary of the finest Scotland goal of all time passed quietly. On June 11 1978 Archie Gemmill foxed and flummoxed a Dutch defence to finish off an act of individual brilliance so feted it became a scene in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting and recently won 60 per cent of the vote in a poll of BBC Scotland viewers to decide the most iconic Scotland strike in history.
The regret is that it came to nothing. Hopes of a World Cup miracle lasted all of three minutes before Jonny Rep strolled forward and smashed a long range strike past Scotland keeper Alan Rough. Once again the dream was over.
The BBC poll presented viewers with 16 memorable Scotland goals to ponder and, remarkably, three of them came from the same game in November. A game for the ages at the National Stadium.
Scott McTominay’s overhead kick in the 4-2 win over Denmark came second to Gemmill. Kenny McLean’s 40 yard lob of Kasper Schmeichel was in there as well. A strike which reduced grown men to tears and ended Scotland’s torturous 28 year wait to return to the World Cup finals they’ll be recalling that one in 50 years time as well.
Perched up on a podium in Scotland’s World Cup training camp in North Carolina yesterday the Norwich City midfielder answered the usual questions patiently, but offered a stark admission. Offered the choice he would swap all the tributes, all the applause, all the personal glory that strike brought to his door for a slice of collective history. For a win against Haiti in the early hours of Sunday morning and a genuine chance of Scotland progressing from Group C into the last 32 of the tournament.
“That moment wasn’t just about me,” he says now. “That was about us getting here and now we are here, we want to do more. I would switch it in a minute.”
Before kick-off Clarke has a midfield selection dilemma to ponder. Scott McTominay’s recovery from a stomach upset would create an overload of central midfielders for a 4-4-2 formation. Basic arithmetic dictates that John McGinn, Ryan Christie, Lewis Ferguson and McLean can’t all feature in the starting line up and some will be victims of a miscarriage of justice.
McLean – an outstanding professional - played the 700th game of his professional career in the 4-0 thrashing of Bolivia in New Jersey, teammates signing his salmon pink jersey in commemoration of a proud achievement. In what’s certain to be his one and only World Cup, heat and conditions guarantee that he will feature at some stage. Given the quality of midfielder available to Clarke there is no guarantee of a start against Haiti.
“Obviously I have been in the game for a while now,” he acknowledges. “I’m 34, I’m not getting any younger.
“To reach a milestone like that was pretty special. Doing it in a Scotland jersey made it even more special.
“For me it is the pinnacle of anyone’s career and we have an opportunity now to play in a World Cup. To hit that milestone the other day obviously was amazing but 701 hopefully is going to be better.”
More so if Scotland can do something they have managed just four times in 23 games at the finals of the World Cup and win the game. By common consent three points and a goal difference of minus two should offer a chance of qualifying for the last 32 as one of the best placed third placed teams. In a group featuring Morocco and Brazil beating an athletic, counter attacking Haiti side offers the most realistic chance of doing something no Scotland team has managed to do before.
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As McLean admits, qualification can’t become a glass ceiling. No Scotland, no party should be a slogan and not the height of the nation’s ambitions. Somewhere along the line they have to get the monkey off their back and an expanded World Cup of 48 teams with 104 games offers a unique chance to do it.
“We want to make history,” he admits. “We want to do more. There is more to come, I believe that and we believe that.
“Preparations have been amazing, could not have gone any better. And we here to maximise the opportunity that we have. That’s what we have been doing for the last couple of weeks.
“It has been a really good build up, a good couple of games. We fly up to Boston today and we are as prepared as we could be.
“There is a lot of expectation, we put a lot of expectation on ourselves going into every game and we want to go out there and win the game. We have the squad, we have the players that can do that.”
These players should be unaffected by the failures of the past. McLean is one of the few in a 26 man squad who was actually alive when the Scots last took part in a World Cup 28 years ago. The weight of history should not be on their shoulders and mentally the 34-year-old feels the squad are in a positive frame of mind ahead of a game against Haiti hugely consequential to hopes of securing a place in the last 32. Defeat is possible, but unthinkable.
While it’s not impossible to take points from Morocco, Brazil or both defeat to Haiti would feel like Italia 90 and an opening day defeat to Costa Rica all over again. Another campaign of hope and expectation would run the risk of spiralling in to a tailspin after one game.
“We are here to take care of business,” says McLean. “Our World Cup starts on Saturday and every game will be as big as each other.
“There is a lot of expectation, we put a lot of expectation on ourselves going into every game and we want to go out there and win the game. We have the squad, we have the players that can do that.”
One of the by products of that goal against Denmark was the pressure to repeat it. Whenever McLean finds himself within 40 yards of goal an audible chant of ‘shooooot’ goes up from the Tartan Army.
“I had a shot against Curacao so I listened once,” he laughs. “It was OK, but I won’t be doing that too often. As I mentioned after that [Denmark] game, decision making there, I could be getting my backside kicked by the manager.”
He hopes people place his goal up in lights alongside strikes by the likes of Gemmill and Dalglish and McTominay in a few decades’ time. In the here and now he could live with being eclipsed by the kind of once-in-a-generation moment which might Scotland to the promised land of the last 32.
“People keep speaking about the goals at Hampden against Denmark but we want to do so much more. We are here because of that, what happened in November but we don’t just want to stop there. There is so much more to come from us.”
